Tuesday would make the most sense from the league’s standpoint, in that the Stanley Cup Final begins Wednesday. It wouldn’t be smart business to usurp the opening of your championship series with news of a franchise relocation.

If both sides, True North and the Atlanta Spirit, signed off on the deal Monday night, we should hear about it, Tuesday.

If it’s not Tuesday, look for Thursday, an off day in the Vancouver-Boston series.

Either way, I’m betting commissioner Gary Bettman will be standing at a podium near you before too long, welcoming the Winnipeg Whatevers and front man Mark Chipman of True North back into his exclusive club.

With a seat around the table for David Thomson, Chipman’s billionaire partner, of course.

It’ll be a conditional sale, still requiring the stamp of approval from the NHL’s board of governors. For that, we’ll have to wait until June 21, when the governors next meet.

I’m told there will not be a special meeting called for this.

I’m also told getting the 75% approval required for Chipman and Thomson as owners won’t be an issue (see above, under “billionaire partner”).

Relocating a franchise requires a simple majority, and people in the know say that shouldn’t be a problem, either.

After all, not a single governor has expressed concern about returning to Winnipeg, right?

Besides, it’s not like they have much choice. It’s either relocation or contraction.

There’s a clause allowing an Atlanta-based buyer to save the Thrashers right up until that governors meeting, June 21.

But at this point, that’s highly unlikely.

The latest comments from a member of the Atlanta ownership group make it clear, again, there’s no white knight on the horizon in Georgia.

“Unfortunately, there are not enough of us that are passionate at this point in time to keep the team, to replenish what we need to have done,” Rutherford Seydel told Atlanta TV’s 11Alive News. “We currently are trying and we’ve tried and it’s frustrating and it’s a very heartfelt sorrow that I have at this point.”

Seydel is one of the few Atlanta Spirit owners actually feeling bad about it. He’s a longtime Atlanta resident whose father-in-law (Ted Turner) named the team.

His partners, locked in lawsuits over the years and losing at least $20 million per season, are obviously unloading this team as fast as they can.

But these things take time.

This hasn’t been talked about very much, but the two sides have also been negotiating the futures, and possible buyouts, of the Thrashers front office, including president Don Waddell, GM Rick Dudley and head coach Craig Ramsay.